2025 Australian SSBM Rankings

On paper, 2025 should have been a quiet year for Australian Melee. With only 3 major tournaments in the books, it so easily could have come and gone without leaving a lasting impact on the scene. Instead, what we got was a year filled with unforgettable moments, heated rivalries, and community members finding new ways to go above and beyond. From RNG spawning a flock of online critics after crumbling SFOP’s mind palace with his enlightened up-tilts in the corner, to Gnomedome going the distance with quite literally every single one of his opponents at Camp Firefox, 2025 had a little something for everyone.

Phantom 2025: Australia's premiere Melee tournament (Photo credit: ZeeGees)

In a sea of up-and-comers, returning veterans, and everything in between, 10 players stood out from the pack this year as the undisputed best in Australia. They fought off challengers from around the country in an era where the gap between the best and the rest is arguably smaller than it’s ever been. In particular, three players narrowly missed the cut this year. Muscat, whose ever-consistent Fox posted some great wins and solid placements at both majors he attended. McCloud, who made Top 8 at Phantom with Peach and then reignited her old flame with Luigi to shake things up for the rest of the year. And finally, who could forget Emps, Australia’s perennial Jigglypuff player whose flashes of brilliance rival the very best.

With the honourables mentioned, all that’s left now is to recognise the best Australian Melee players of 2025.

 

Photo credit: Will

 #10: Michael

Michael. BBN. Birdbrain. The mid-tier slayer. His tag depends on the alignment of the planets, and he’s a character that has to be interrogated to be believed. Whether its a loaded comment about you being old, delivered through the most charming grin you’ll ever see, or a falling laser perfectly placed to destroy your out-of-shield options, Michael has a way of getting his opponents right where he wants them, and then punishing like a truck.

This year saw Michael finally take a local over RNG with some of the most monstrous Falco vs Marth tech and confidence the country has ever seen. He’ll tell you that Falco’s most important losing matchup is to Falco, but 2025 saw him overcome the demons presented by his fellow bird mains, with two wins over Lackss at Camp Firefox, and his first ever win over Microsoft J at the final Schlocal.

Michael is a force to be reckoned with; a constant reminder of the beautiful culture that Australian Melee has cultivated since its post-COVID revival. He’s more than one unc’s favourite son. Pay attention in 2026 or miss out.

-Tid

Photo credit Sindocus

#9: Helium

Lowkey is the best word to describe Helium. His Marth is lowkey, his vibe is lowkey, and he is lowkey beating your ass right now. Antithetical to this, Helium’s run at Camp Firefox 2025 was anything but lowkey. His journey to Winners Semis involved taking out Emps, RNG, and Microsoft J in back-to-back upsets, cementing one of the greatest Cinderella runs in recent Aus smash history. A game 5 heartbreaker against SSBMRank 49 Khryke proved that it wasn’t just a series of one-in-a-million wins. 

Despite a middling but solid Phantom result, it would be hard to find someone who would contest Helium’s placement among Australia’s best Melee players. Whether or not he can continue his highkey streak into 2026 is simply up in the air.

-Microsoft J

Photo credit: Sindocus

#8: Microsoft J

If the essence of Australian Melee had to be distilled down into a single player, it would undoubtedly be Microsoft J. As community members have come and gone over the years, Jordi has remained a cornerstone of the tournament scene for over a decade. He’s a TO, a commentator, a PR panelist, a Melee historian, a decorated Twitter poster, and a friend to all. But above all else, he’s a competitor.

For years, he was the scrappy underdog; a gatekeeper separating the “pretty good” from the best. But even among his fiercest rivals, his genuine passion for the game and willingness to show up no matter the circumstances made it impossible not to root for him. His recent (and deserved) ascent into the upper echelon of Australian players and recognition as the best Falco in the country have only amplified his status as a crowd-favourite.

Melee needs more people like Microsoft J, but there will never be anyone else quite like Microsoft J.

-Skip

Photo credit: Jason (Greep)

#7: Chibe

It’s no surprise that Chibe was grinding UnclePunch at 3am the morning after Camp Firefox. In fact, the community recognised his relentless drive of practice and study when he was crowned “Uncle’s Worst Nightmare” at the Victorian Melee end of year awards. He also picked up the award for highest tournament attendance, averaging almost one tournament a week.

Chibe’s seemingly endless tenacity to improve at Melee would lead him to win many of these tournaments, including in September, when he finally achieved his goal of winning a Schlocal over Goodie. Chibe also made top 8 at Floating Point and Camp Firefox, with his red Marth taking sets off Michael, Microsoft J, Muscat, SA Nick and Emps. After meticulously honing his craft locally, Chibe will finally make his mark internationally when he attends Genesis X3. Whatever happens, don’t be surprised to hear that he spent the morning after the tournament practicing his techskill.

-Loztheipket

Photo credit: ZeeGees

#6: Clementine

With 5 trips to Victoria this year, 4 trips to NSW, over two thousand posts in the Melee Grinders Discord, and a stint playing Ultimate in Canberra “just to get tournament experience”, Clementine is a player who takes advantage of every opportunity she can get.

In her travels, Clementine took a set from every single other player in the top 10, bar Helium who she never faced. Clementine had an amazing showing at Phantom 2025, with her run to 5th place requiring back-to-back wins against Sock and GnomeDome. She also got 2nd at the August iteration of Gecko Cavern, where she beat Chibe, Ryzuul, RNG, and Goodie. Demonstrating consistent improvement over her 4 years of Melee, expect Clementine to continue inspiring the Australian Foxes in 2026 as she invades locals and takes names.

-Loztheipket

Photo credit: ZeeGees

#5: Gnomedome

Sitting quietly in the background of Aus Melee post-COVID, with sparse locals and even fewer major appearances, the artist and Fox player formerly known as Skeleduck would simply show up to a single major, beat your favourite players, and then replace them wholly in both your heart and mind. After taking a years-long hiatus from the game, the stoic VIC native would return to do it all again, this time playing Captain Falcon under a new moniker: Gnomedome.

2025 felt like Gnomedome’s first truly active year, being one of very few players to score a local win over Goodie, and being 1 of only 2 players to crack top 8 at both Phantom and Camp Firefox. With an unsuspectingly eccentric personality and a playstyle to match, Australia’s lone top Falcon would score insane game 5 victories against RNG, Microsoft J, and the 83rd ranked player in the world Bekvin, in sets that feel he’s defying fate itself and leaving the crowd with a single thought: “There is no fucking way”.

-Microsoft J

Photo credit: Will

#4: thebigcod

Every Melee scene has a hidden boss or two, but thebigcod? She’s something else entirely. Spawning in somewhere between the launch of the Nintendo Wii and COVID-19, thebigcod became a late-night Slippi staple during some of Australian Melee’s most dormant years. Any unsuspecting unranked session is vulnerable to being invaded by one of thebigcod’s many, many characters, and you are not going to escape without feeling a little worse at the game than you were yesterday.

Finally, offline and in the flesh, thebigcod’s Jigglypuff, made its explosive Top 8 major debut at Floating Point 2025 as she tore through Clementine, Microsoft J, Goodie and Chibe (twice!). Every single rest, every single edgeguard, every single stock, saw cod cackling into the camera, sometimes literally on her feet, seemingly taken over by the joy that being sick at Melee brings her. The crowd couldn’t get enough, and neither could she. Just months later, a staggering 5th place run at Phantom (which included a heart-stopping game 5 win over Muscat and a truly brain-melting timeout win over McCloud) solidified her lofty debut on the national rankings.

-Tid

Photo credit: Wata

#3: Sock

Anyone familiar with Australian Melee won’t be surprised to see Sock’s placement on the Mt. Rushmore of this year’s rankings. While his fire for Melee burns hot and cold, one thing remains true: Sock will always be a contender to win the whole tournament. Unless he’s playing Falcon under the tag Roniel the Rat, in which case he’ll probably come like third or something.

Despite bowing out at 9th place at Phantom, Sock continued hustling, picking up some great wins over his Top 10 brethren and sistren at Melbourne and Sydney locals, before ending his year with an exclamation mark at Camp Firefox. There, he added two Top 100 wins to his resume in Khryke and Bekvin, with an additional win over Gnomedome and a scandalously successful Puff counterpick against Chibe, netting him a hard-earned second place finish.

Nobody truly knows what 2026 holds for the Prince of Penrith. Will he return to his netplay-grinding roots? Or will he show up out of nowhere in December jacked out of his gourd and win it all? Only time will tell. 

-Skip

Photo credit: Will

#2: RNGReallyNotGood

RNG is the Marth that Sydney Melee players tell ghost stories about to get their children to behave. But the scariest thing about RNG is that he’s not just here to win, he’s here to talk to you about it too. If you’re lucky, you might get given a simple refrain. “Melee is just like Fire Emblem”, he’ll tell you, as you close your eyes and hope he doesn’t elaborate. It seems absurd. Either everything you thought you knew about Melee was wrong, or this guy is, but this guy can definitely 3–0 you and all your PR homies, so he must be onto something. This is your last chance to cut him off before he shares whether or not he thinks you’re sentient enough to understand him, or starts to tell you what he’d do with a Death Note.

Sydney has been watching this ghost story dominate their locals for years now, but the whole world tuned in as he soared through to 3rd place at the absurdly stacked Phantom 2025. The run included exceptionally clean wins over Microsoft J and McCloud, and a statement of a performance in a 3–1 set win over SSBMRank 35 player SFOP. We’ve all seen the up tilts. 

Somehow, some way, he managed to top that by winning Australia’s next major Floating Point from Winners. Ending the year with wins over almost the entire national PR meant that being felled outside of Top 8 at Camp Firefox would not be enough to stop RNG from being crowned as the second best player in all of Australia this year. Just don’t ask him how he did it.

-Tid

Photo credit: Sindocus

#1: Goodie

After reverse 3–0ing a top 50 player in Winners Finals of the last Australian major of the year, Goodie got up, walked over to her friends with a smile on her face and said “that was the worst I’ve ever played”. If there’s one thing Goodie loves more than winning, it’s winning even harder.

Goodie started her year off with a trip to America, with her best performance being at Fight Pitt 10, where she defeated Khryke and Drephen on her way to a 9th place finish. After failing to establish dominance back home at Phantom and Floating Point, she traveled to Sydney multiple times with the express purpose of showing everyone she was still the best, and made a strong statement by winning all four tournaments she entered against Australia’s finest.

Things would only get better for Goodie, as she would go on a monstrous losers run at the BattleGateWay Nounsvitational Qualifier, winning the runback against Inngenn and 6–0ing Skerzo to book her ticket to the most prestigious invitational of the year. There, up against the best of the best, she made her debut on the world stage by defeating Aklo in pools.

She ended the year strong by winning Camp Firefox, once again defeating Khryke and cleaning up Sock in Grand Finals to cement her place as the top dog down under.

-Skip

Credits:

Rankings Panel: Microsoft J, Skip, Loztheipket, Tid, Rollic
Lead Editor: Skip
Graphics: Microsoft J